Cotinus coggygria Its lush purple color simply glows in the garden, and you’ll love the new look with each passing season! Loves heat, sun, wind and being exposed with the rest of your native plants. Growing to just 10 feet it makes the perfect accent between larger native oaks and pine. Royal Purple has the darkest foliage of its kind. Tiny flowers float above the leaves as a bekon to take a closer look. The flowers are so light and airy from a distance they look as though the plant has smoke rising up from within, thus its name. The longest blooming of all the ornamental trees.
I love the Smoke Bush–I planted a small one last fall and it made it through the winter. It did have small flowers on it at first but appears that they have been eaten! Is it the flowers that turn into the plumes? Does this mean I won’t have any this year? Is this a plant deer and pigs will eat the flowers off of???? If yes, how do I protect it? Thank you–miss your Courier column but enjoy your e-mails.
Deer and Javalina do not eat smoke bush foliage. The flowers do elongate into the classic plumes that look like smoke on top of the bush.
Will the Royal Purple Smoke Bush survive in Maine?
Yes, Smoke bush is rated down to a USDA Zone 4 with is -30 degrees. The will perform beautifully in full sun locations.
It was good!!